Meth Trafficking

The issue of meth production and trafficking is becoming a major and seemingly uncontrollable factor in today’s society. This is because meth is being both domestically produced and imported into the United States once it is already processed. The Anti-Meth site states that this is because of two problems: “Steadily increasing importation of methamphetamine into the region by organized groups and clandestine manufacturing of methamphetamine by hundreds of users/dealers in small “mom and pop” labs.” This statement shows that many people are just producing this drug in their own homes or apartments and distributing the drug from there. This is considered the low time drug dealer and smuggler because of the low amount of money they receive in return. The real time smugglers and traffickers are the ones who traffic the drug into the United States from some other country, such as Mexico.

These Cartels and smuggling group’s ship in huge quantities of meth and the loads can be priced at over fifty million dollars street value for one shipment. In order to accomplish this task, the cartels must have many different people working for them in high places. The Department of Justice labels the groups and functions as follows:

“ –Cartel heads make the major decisions, they retail overall authority over land, sea, and air movement of all drugs, establish major front operations, and facilitate cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine movement to major U.S. markets.
-Division chiefs, the working arm of the Federation, are responsible for all stages of smuggling into the United States.
-Gatekeepers, control major ports of entry, facilitate trafficking on both sides of the border, and will also move drugs for other gangs for a price.
-Family syndicates, small time brokers at the bottom of the structure, operate along the border and in the United States and are employed to off-load, transport, store, and distribute drugs.”

This in itself shows the level of authority and command that these traffickers are using and the power they have to control the drug trade. If the smugglers want to get the drug into the country, then they will hire and do whatever it takes to get the drug in.

The price itself of meth is probably why most of these traffickers are willing to risk their lives. As stated by the Anti-Meth site, “$25 per ¼ gram, $100 per gram and $1700 per ounce…experts estimate that one ounce of meth equals about 110 meth hits.” The amount of money involved in this drug is unbelievable and is only getting cheaper because of the amount that is being produced. With these numbers dropping, the number of users will increase because the availability is increasing at such an astounding rate. This drug is becoming an epidemic that must be taking care of.

http://www.kci.org/meth_info/faq_meth.htm
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/dea/product/meth/production.htm